Skirt-marker.



E. M. HITCHCOCK & E. C. HOLLER.

SKIRT MARKER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5.1913. 1,229,958. Patented June 12, 1917.

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TJNTTED @TATFE PATENT ELLA lVL HITCHGOGK AND EDD C. HOLLERQOF LOSAN-GELES, CALIFORNIA.

SKIRT-MARKER.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 12, 1917.

Application filed June 5, 1913. Serial No. 771,791.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, ELLA M. Hirer-r0001: andEon C. HoLLnR, citizens of the United States, residing at Los Angeles,in the county of Los Angeles and State of Cali fornia, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Skirt-Markers, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in garment marking devices andhas particular relation to mechanism by which skirts or dresses may beproperly marked and evenly gaged as to length.

It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus, by which aperson may be able to mark her own skirt or dress without other help andsecure a proper and even length for finishing the same.

It is also an object of the invention to provide an apparatus having amarking support and provided with clamping means for gripping a garmentat the proper height for marking the same at a desired point, the

said gripping means being under the con-- trol of the individual wearingthe garment and being also adapted for holding the skirt or garmententirely around the lower edge thereof.

It is also a further object of the invention to provide a garmentmarking apparatus having an adjustable platform for holding anindividual at different heights, and means for gripping and holding agarment so that it may be marked at a point and height relative to thesaid platform.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a side view of the improved garment marking apparatusportions of the same being broken away and shown in secs tions to betterillustrate the structure thereof.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail sectional,

view taken upon the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail section view through the garment holdingmeans and the adjacent portion of the platform and showing the upperends ofv the standards of the machine. the parts being shown upon anenlarged scale.

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary detail view showing in top plan a portion of themarking ring of the device and the clamping pieces with elasticconnecting means oini-ng them.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the garment marking apparatus.

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view taken upon the line 66 of Fig. 1.

The mechanism forming the subject matter of the present invention isconstructed to afford a device upon which a person may stand having on agarment, skirt or dress to be marked, and allow the said garment to hangover a marking support, means being provided which is within the controlof the individual wearing the garment, for clamping and holdingthegarment against said marking support, entirely around the apparatusand until the skirt or garment can be marked. In the drawings thepreferred structure of the apparatus has been illus which the garment isto be clamped and marked.

The platform 12 is usually circular in contour and is provided withoutwardly extending pairs of jaws 15 adapted to embrace and slide uponthe standards 11. The said jaws have edge retaining flanges 16 bearingupon the outer surfaces of the standards 11 to prevent the standardsfrom spreading under weight placed upon the platform.

The standards 11 are provided upon their inner faces with ratchet teeth17 forming iracks upon said standards which are adapted to be engaged bypivoted dogs 18 mounted upon the under side of the platform.

The said dogs 18 have inwardly projecting .ends 19 which are engaged bysprings 20 mounted in sockets 21 upon the under surface of saidplatform. .ing portions or noses of the said dogs 18 The outersupportmay be drawn inwardly, and out of their normal rack engagingpositions, when the platform is to be lowered, by means of flexibleconnections as chains 22 which extend from the said dogs to a rotatingplate 23 which is pivoted upon theunder side of said platform 12. An armor lever 24 projects from said plate 23 to the periphery of the platform12 and carries an upturned end portion outside the edge of the platformforming a handle 25. The chains are connected at diametrically oppositepoints on the plate 23 as clearly shown in Figs 1 and 5 in the drawingsso that by turning the said plate through the agency of the handle 25and the arm 24, the dogs 18 may be withdrawn simultaneously fromengagement with the teeth 17 of the standard racks, and against theaction of the springs 20, when the platform 12 is to raised or lowered.

The standards 11 are provided upon their edge faces with scale markingsor graduations, the numbers of which indicate different heights from theedge of the garment and the mark thereon to the floor line. The surfaceof the platform represents the floor line in this respect and theposition of said platform with respect to the mark placed upon thegarment indicates the height of said garment from the floor when worn bythe owner. The mark made upon the garment may even be made below orcoinciding with th surface of the platform 12 when the dress or skirt isto touch or drag upon the ground and when the floor is carried down thestandards, the height of the garment or dress will increasecorrespondingly. The standards can be made long enough and graduated tomark clothing for children and young persons as well as for grownpeople.

An important feature of the invention is the clamping and holding of thegarment at the point to be marked, entirely around the lower edge ofsaid garment. In order to properly accomplish this result a series ofsegmental clamps 26 are provided, and made to have a curvature like thatof the marking bar or ring 14. The inner faces of said clamps 26 areusually provided with felt 27 or other yielding holding means. The endsof the clamps do not quite come together in the preferable form of theapparatus when they are bearing against the said ring or the garmentoverhanging the same. In order to bridge the space between the ends ofsaid clamps and thus prevent the escape of any portion of any garmentbetween them, yielding connecting means is mounted upon and extendedfrom one clamp to another around the machine. Usually the yieldingconnection is formed by passing an elastic or yielding cord 28 about thesaid clamps and from the end of one clamp to the adjacent end of thenext one as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 4, 5. The said elastic cord isusually passed through inclined apertures at 29 in the ends of theclamps, so as to bring the said cords flush with the inner edges of'theclamps where they bridge the spaces between them. It will be readilyunderstood that the elastic cords will yield suliiciently to permit theout ward movement of the clamps so as to afford a sufficient spacebetween them and the marking bar or ring 14, to receive the edge of theskirt or other garment.

The movement of the said clamps is preferably within the control of theperson standing upon the platform and wearing the garment to be marked.The said clamps 26 are rigidly attached to the upper ends of bars 30which are generally arranged outside the standard 11 and are movable inand out with respect tothe same. To accomplish such movement the lowerends of the said bars 30 ar secured to the outer ends of thrust bars 31,a thrust bar being provided for each of said clamp bars 30. The innerends of said thrust bars 31 are connected to pit-men 32 which extendtherefrom to the outer ends of a cross head or disk 33. The pitmen areso connected with the said cross head 33 that when it is rotated thethrust bars 31 will b reciprocated. The said thrust bars are guided intheir recipro' cation by bearings in the standards 11, and on the base1.0.

The cross head 33 is rigidlysecured to the lower end of the shaft 34,the said shaft having bearings at its lower end in the base 10 and atits upper end in the brace frame 13. Secured to said shaft 34 near theupper end thereof is a second cross head 35, the arms of which arepivotally connected with pitmen 36 which extend to and are pivotallysecured to the inner ends of thrust rods 37. The said thrust rods extendoutwardly through bearings 38 upon the frame 13 and bearings 39 in thestandards 11 and their outer ends are fastened to the clamp carryingbars 30.

One of the arms of the cross head 35 is made longer than the others anda link 40 connects the sam with a lever 41 arranged outside the frame ofthe device and pivoted at its lower end upon the base 10 at 49. Thelever 41 has a hand held at its upper end by which it may be moved andis provided with a spring actuated latch 42 adapted to engage a toothedsegment or rack 43 also secured to the base of the machine. A handle orlever 44 controls the action of said latch. The engagement of the rack43 by the latch 42, is such that the said lever 41 cannot be movedoutwardly and the clamps 26 be thrown outwardly without releasing thelatch 42. The said lever 41 can however, be moved inwardly for settingthe clamps without manipulating the said latch 42 by hand. In order tomake this movement of the lever 41 possibl under th control of a personstanding upon the platform 12, a cord 45 is connected with a ring on theupper end of lever 41 and made of suflicient length to extend upwardlywithin reach of the hand of a person occupying the said platform.

It will be observed that the upper and lower cross heads 35 and 33rigidly connected by th shaft 34 will operate the thrust bars and rods31 and 37 so as to communicate inner and outer movements to the clampcarrying bars 30 and yet always maintain them in vertical positions.

The operation of the mechanism will be readily understood in connectionwith the above description. If a person desires a skirt or dress made sothat its lower edge will be say, about three inches above the floor allaround, the platform 12 is set upon the standard 11 so that its uppersurface will come opposite the numeral 3 on the scale as shown forinstance, in Fig. 1 in the drawings. The clamps 26 are thrown to theiroutermost positions by pulling the lever 41 outwardly. The person withthe skirt or dress on then stepsupon thieplatform 12 and allows thelower edge thereof to hang outside the ring 1 1, but inside the clamps26. The said person having taken the cord 45 in hand before mounting theplatform then pulls upon the said cord, forcing the clamps inwardly andtightly against the garment gripping it upon the outer surface of thering 14:. The latch 12 will hold the parts in this position. The personmay then release the skirt or garment and dropping it step from theplatform and taking a piece of chalk or other marking material, pass thesame along the upper edges of the clamps 26 as indicated in dotted linesat 46 in Fig. 1. The upper edges of said clamps thus become guides fordirecting a mark to be made entirely around the skirt or garment, andindicating accurately where the lower edge of the garment should befinished. It will thus be evident that a skirt dress or garment may bemarked by a person with accuracy and evenness and without the assistanceof another person. The details and features of the mechanism may bealtered without departing from the spirit of the invention. The platform12 is preferably provided with apertures 47 and 48 near the centerthereof in which the thumb and fingers may be thrust for grasping theplatform when it is to be raised or lowered the other hand of theoperator being at the same time used to operate the handle 25 andrelease the dog 18.

It is found in practice that the clamps employed in this device willgrip and hold even the thinnest and most flimsy materials, as well ascoarser ones, without the least tendency to drawing or pulling them outof shape or into Wrinkles, so that the apparatus is well fitted to markall kinds of goods or materials, without difficulty.

lVhat is claimed is:

1.. A garment marker comprising a support for a person, a continuousintegral garment supporting band, segmental clamps outside the bandadapted to press upon and grip a garment against said continuousintegral band, substantially parallel adjustable arms carrying saidclamps, adjusting means connected with the intermediate parts and thelower parts of said arms for advancing or retracting them in parallelrelation.

2. A garment marking device comprising a band for holding the garment inspread form, clamps adapted to grip the garment against said band anddirect a marking substance around the same and means within the controlof the person wearing the garment for setting said clamps simultaneouslywhen standing erect.

3. A garment marking apparatus comprising an adjustable support a ringcapable of holding the garment in spread form and clamps under thecontrol of the operator when standing erect upon said support forgripping the garment against said ring, the clamps directing thelocation of the mark upon said garment.

1. A garment marking apparatus comprising a frame having graduatedstandards and a garment engaging member mounted thereon, a personsupporting platform adjustably mounted upon said standards, clampsadapted to force a garment against the said garment engaging member,standards carrying said clamps, parallel op erating means for drawingsaid clamps simultaneously toward the garment engaging member to gripthe garment and means for bridging the spaces between the ends of saidclamps.

5. A garment marking apparatus comprising a frame having rack standardstherein, a platform having adjustable means for engaging the said racksof said standards for supporting the platform at different heights, agarment engaging band carried by said standards, segmental clamps forholding a garment against said band bars carrying said clamps and meansfor moving said bars in and out radially of the apparatus, for holdingor releasing the garment.

6. A garment marker comprising a frame having standards provided withrack teeth, a platform adapted to move upon said standards, springactuated dogs capable of supporting the platform upon the rack teeth, adog operating disk, flexible connections between the dogs and the saiddisk and an arm for turning the said disk whereby the said connectionswill operate to move the dogs out of engagement with the rack teeth whenthe platform is to be raised or lowered.

7 A garment marker comprising a frame, an adjustable support mountedtherein, a garment engaging band, clamps adapted to bear upon thegarment and press it against said band, a yielding cord extending fromclamp to clamp and bridging the spaces between their ends uprightscarrying said clamps and means for moving said uprights toward or awayfrom the adjustable support for causing the clamps to grip or releasethe said garment, the clamps forming a guiding means for markingmaterial in passing it around the garment.

S. A garment marking apparatus comprising a frame, a platform therein, agarment engaging band, clamps for pressing a garment a gainst saidband,bars carrying said clamps, thrust rods for moving the said bars,oscillating cross heads for moving said thrust rods longitudinally and alever under the control of the party marking the garment for oscillatingthe said cross heads.

9. A garment marking apparatus having a garment engaging band, clampsadapted to press a garment against said band and having yieldingmaterial upon their gripping edges, reciprocating means carrying thesaid clamps, oscillating cross heads connected with said reciprocatingmeans for movmg the same, a shaft carrying the said 20 cross heads, alever adapted to turn the said shaft and a cord connected With saidlever and adapted to extend to the hand of the person Wearing the skirtor garment Whereby the said person may accomplish the marking operationwithout the assistance of another person.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands, in the presence oftwo Witnesses.

ELLA M. I-IITCHCOCK. EDD C. HOLLER.

Witnesses EARLE R. POLLARD, CAssnLL SEVERANCE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

